PC gamers who were interested in the original Destiny were pleased to hear that the sequel, Destiny 2, would be available on both consoles and PC. Of course, aligning the game across these extremely different systems will no doubt be a challenge, and as such developer Bungie has confirmed that there is the possibility of the console and PC versions of the game being balanced separately.

This news comes courtesy of Bungie's Luke Smith, who is the game director of Destiny 2. Speaking in an interview with PC Gamer, Smith was asked about the difficulties in balancing the game unilaterally. There, Smith stated that the game may well not be balanced unilaterally, with the game director explaining that PC and console gamers are "two consumer types with very different needs."

Smith explained that controller users and mouse and keyboard users would have very different requirements, particularly when it came down to matters like weapon response to recoil. As such, Bungie has been thinking about treating the balancing of the two versions according to player requirements:

"Going here into PC for the first time, we want to make sure that the PC game plays as well as the console game with respect to the audience’s desires. So that means custom: we are treating recoil in a custom way, we’re treating aiming and bullet accuracy custom for the PC. We want to have a game that plays amazingly on the PC for what the PC audience expects."

This does make sense from a development perspective. The difference in requirements for PC and console shooter controls has long been a subject of discussion, with Gears of War Creator Cliff Bleszinski even suggesting that "cross play is dumb" because of the sheer difference in how games play. However, Bungie will face a thin margin of error to ensure that the console and PC versions of Destiny 2 play well, but ensure that each version does not feel like an entirely different game.

PC gamers looking forward to Destiny 2 were met with a little bit of disappointment during E3 2017, however. There, Bungie finally confirmed the release date for the PC version of Destiny 2, with the game set to arrive on October 24, 2017, almost two months after the console version lands.

One bit of solace could be found, however, as Bungie also revealed the beta test dates for Destiny 2. Although the PC test will be arriving later than the console ones once more, hitting at some point in late August, at the very least it means that PC gamers will have some idea of what to expect from the game before release.

Destiny 2 will be released on September 6, 2017 for Xbox One and PS4. The PC version of the game will be released on October 24, 2017.

Source: PC Gamer